Shooting Stars
by ChocolatteKitty-Kat
Summary: A collection of Star Wars one-shots, probably primarily pilot-centric. CONTAINS ROGUE ONE SPOILERS. (Title inspired by Biggs Darklighter and Luke Skywalker: "We're a couple of shooting stars that can't be stopped".)


**A/N: So I saw Rogue One the other day and it gave me a lot of feelings. As a perpetual fan of pilots, this is what I did with them. More coming soon, probably.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, which means I don't own any of these characters, things, places, etc. I'm not making money off this, although making money from something Star Wars is basically my life goal.**

 **SPOILER ALERT: ROGUE ONE SPOILERS AHEAD.**

.*.*.*.*.*.

" _Red Three, Red Four, this is Massassi control. We have an incoming Imperial shuttle carrying friendlies. Repeat, incoming Imperial shuttle carrying friendlies. Do not fire._ "

"Copy, Massassi control, this is Red Three; we have the shuttle in visual and will escort it to the landing pad," Biggs Darklighter replied. Settled securely into the cockpits of their X-wing fighters, he and his partner took up positions on either side of the incoming shuttle, guiding it down through the atmosphere of the fourth moon of Yavin.

The trio of ships touched down on a designated landing area outside of the ancient Massassi temple that was currently in use as the base of the Rebel Alliance. Biggs popped the canopy of his fighter and groaned as the muggy jungle air assaulted him; having grown up on the desert planet of Tattooine, he was accustomed to heat, but the humidity of the jungle moon was a completely new and unwelcome experience for the young pilot. He clambered down the ladder and began to peel off his flightsuit as soon as he touched the ground. As he was tying the sleeves of the suit around his waist, his elbow bumped another pilot who had suddenly materialized beside Biggs. This was Wedge Antilles, another X-wing pilot a few years younger than Biggs. Both had defected from the Imperial fleet just out of the Academy and had rapidly become some of the top pilots in the Rebellion. They had become friends quickly, along with a few other pilots such as Wes Janson and Derek Klivian, but of all the other rebels on the base, Wedge was the only person that Biggs could say was both his favorite and least favorite, and both for the same reason: Wedge reminded Biggs of his closest childhood friend from Tattooine, Luke Skywalker. Both boys were just about the same age, and both were nothing but trouble—Biggs lived in fear of Luke somehow joining the rebellion and befriending Wedge. He knew that if this happened, he would never be able to sleep easy again for worrying about the two.

"How was patrol?" Wedge asked, staring at the shuttle that Biggs and his partner had escorted to the ground.

"Who's on the ship?" Biggs asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say Cassian Andor. No-one else would be able to pull off stealing an Imperial shuttle and making it back here."

"Probably," Biggs sighed his agreement. Cassian was more trouble, and Biggs was convinced that the intelligence agent-slash-pilot was a horrible influence on Wedge, who didn't need encouragement to be any more reckless than he already was.

As the two pilots watched, the boarding ramp of the shuttle lowered slowly, and, sure enough, Cassian Andor was the first person down it, half dragging a bedraggled young man in an Imperial pilot's uniform beside him. Just behind them was a brown-haired woman, followed by Cassian's sidekick, a reprogrammed Imperial droid by the name of K-2S0, and a pair of middle-aged men in old-fashioned robes, one feeling his way along with a walking stick, the other bearing a massive gun.

"Wonder who's with him," Wedge murmured, already starting to trail after the odd party. Biggs caught him by the collar of his flightsuit and turned him back towards the air field.

"Get ready for your patrol," Biggs gave Wedge a shove towards the cluster of X-wings with Red Squadron paint decals on the sides.

.*.*.*.*.*.

Later that day, Biggs was helping deckhands move supplies across the bottom level when Cassian pulled him aside. "What's going on?" Biggs asked, genuinely curious. He had not been called into the meeting in the command center as many of the other pilots had. He'd heard a little of what had happened—that Cassian had given his report, and that the woman with him had given a rousing speech encouraging the rebels to stage an attack on an Imperial planet to steal the plans to the Empire's newest weapon.

"I need your help," Cassian explained. "The Empire is building a new weapon. It's called the Death Star, and it can destroy entire planets. I've seen it in action, and believe me when I tell you that it needs to be stopped before they can use it. We know where the plans to the weapon are, and what we need to do to get them, but the commanders won't sanction a mission to do so."

"Where are they?" Biggs asked.

"Scarif."

Cassian had hardly finished the name of the planet when Biggs began shaking his head. "No. Absolutely not."

"We need to get these plans," Cassian argued. "If we don't, the Empire will wreak havoc across the galaxy with this weapon."

"The commanders know what they're doing, and they knew what they were doing when they said 'no' to this mission," Biggs shot back. "Scarif is in the middle of Imperial space; no way you'll be able to get in without being shot down. This isn't a mission, it's a suicide note."

"Darklighter, listen"—

"No, Andor, you listen," Biggs snapped. "You might think that you know better than the commanders, but you don't. If they denied this mission, they have a reason. Don't go against them."

Cassian looked furious, but he relented. Without another word, he turned on his heel and stalked across the hangar. Biggs watched him go, scowling as Cassian stopped to pull another rebel aside. Biggs resolved to tell someone in the command structure about Cassian's plan as soon as he could, and headed to the destination of the supplies he was carrying.

By the time Biggs had finished his work, Cassian was nowhere to be seen. Biggs headed for the command center, hoping to find Mon Mothma or General Rieekan—someone who could stop Cassian Andor's latest wild scheme from becoming a reality. However, when he entered the command center, he found it in chaos. Reports were being shouted across rows of computers to Mon Mothma and the generals around the central table. Biggs hung by the door, listening to what was being said and cursing himself for not coming sooner, because, according to what he was hearing, Cassian Andor had had his way.

.*.*.*.*.*.

Wedge Antilles and another Red Squadron were on patrol, weaving through the Yavin system, when Rogue One took off.

" _What's that!?_ " the other pilot cried over the intercom as the stolen Imperial shuttle blasted past the two X-wings.

"No idea," Wedge replied. He wondered what had happened on the planet since he had left for patrol.

" _Red Two, Red Twelve, this is Massassi control. Return to the planet immediately for refueling. Repeat, return immediately._ "

"Massassi control, this is Red Two," Wedge replied. "What's going on down there?"

" _Your commander will explain when you land_ ," the voice crackled back through the headset in Wedge's helmet.

The two X-wings touched down to a flurry of activity in the landing field as pilots ran to their ships; some of the fighters, as well as a few larger ships, were already in the air and leaving the atmosphere. Wedge popped his canopy, left his helmet in the cockpit, and shimmied down the ladder to the ground. "Biggs!" he called, spotting his friend heading for his X-wing. "What's going on?" he asked as he approached the older man.

"We're going to Scarif to back up Rogue One," Biggs replied. There was a sparkle of anticipation and excitement for the inevitable upcoming battle in his eyes, which Wedge knew was mirrored in his own.

"Who's Rogue One?" Wedge asked.

"Cassian Andor and his team," Biggs replied. "They've gone off on some damn fool idealistic crusade to hit the Empire where it hurts by stealing the plans to their shiny new planet-killer, and we're going to back them up."

"I'm surprised the commanders agreed to this," Wedge said.

"They didn't," Biggs replied, "but Cassian decided to go anyways."

"Antilles! Darklighter! This isn't a party; get to your ships!" Their commander bellowed across the airfield, and the two pilots split.

"See you on the other side," Wedge grinned, starting to backpedal towards his fighter.

"On the other side," Biggs repeated, jogging towards his X-wing.


End file.
